Eagles: Defense turning a corner after Sunday's victory

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — As the Eagles turned Sunday to the Meadowlands in an attempt to rescue a season, their defensive coordinator, Billy Davis, had to rescue even more.

He had to rescue some credibility.

It wasn’t so much that he and his unit were alone responsible for a previous-week loss in Denver. But it was Davis who had the courage to use a 32-point loss to the Broncos to announce that his defense was ... improving?

“The results did not show in that game obviously, so I’m asking you to trust me,” he would say. “I really believe it will turn.”

As the Eagles defeated the New York Giants, 36-21, Sunday, Davis was that much closer to deserving such faith. For while the Birds’ defense was less than flawless, it did make three interceptions, mix in a sack, throw a fourth-quarter shutout and pester Eli Manning into 38 incomplete passes.

A challenge offered. A challenge met.

“It goes back to the little techniques,” Davis said at the end of a three-game losing steak. “In practice, you can see yourself moving forward when guys are doing it more consistently and you know, sooner or later, that a day like today is going to happen for you, where you have the turnovers and the ball does bounce your way. But it is stacked on top of more guys consistently playing ‘technique’ and playing together.”

As much as the Eagles appeared unprepared to contain one Manning a week earlier, they did plenty to fluster another Sunday. Cornerbacks Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher consistently smothered Giants receivers, the defensive line permitted just 53 New York rushing yards, and Williams, Brandon Boykin and Mychal Kendricks each collected an interception.

The Birds were particularly effective late, denying Manning a chance to add to his impressive career collection of unlikely rallies.

“They had a couple new looks, but nothing that we weren’t ready for or didn’t have an answer for,” Manning said. “We knew they were going to do some doubles, and they did some of that. We had some answers to try and get guys through the double-team, and we just didn’t hit many of them.”

By contrast, just a week after that Denver deflation, the Birds were hitting everything … not that they were necessarily surprised.

“If you’re smart, and if you really look at it, that’s what we thought,” Connor Barwin said. “We didn’t have many errors in that game. We ran into a quarterback that was just playing lights-out. Obviously, we could have done a lot better. But we didn’t get turnovers. And when you play Peyton Manning, with the way that offense is playing, if you don’t get take-aways, it’s hard to stop them.”

In what had been a competitive match Sunday, the Birds generated a take-away on three consecutive fourth-quarter Giants’ possessions, flustering, then intercepting Manning.

“It was a great outing by the defense,” Davis said. “They came up and made the plays when we needed them. It was a good team win. We took a step forward today. It was a good, solid step forward and we’re excited about it.”

The Birds were 2-3, which was enough to keep them relevant in the lukewarm NFC East as the Giants fell to 0-5.

“This motivates us,” Boykin said. “We play on the road again next week in Tampa Bay, and we know that when we get pressure, we get turnovers, and that helps our offense and helps us score. In order to win games, you’ve got to get turnovers, and I feel like we are on the right track.”

One week — and one plea for trust — later, that was a little easier to see.